August 16 We left Brisbane at about noon for a 13 hour flight to Los Angeles. Because we crossed the International Date Line, we arrived in LA at 7am the same day we left (five hours before we had left Brisbane). We still had another 12 hours before we reached our final destination of Norfolk (via … Read more
August 14 Today was a day to shop and unwind at Airlie Beach. As we mentioned before, Airlie Beach is a lovely waterfront town with a man-made lagoon on the waterfront. Basically, it was a free public pool in the middle of the town. I don’t think you would see that in the USA. I … Read more
Family pictures at Arlie Beach marina before departing on our catamaran! Whitehaven Beach at Whitsunday Islands…the most beautiful beach I have seen! August 11 We left Magnetic Island and headed to Airlie Beach, which is about three hours south of Townsville. On our way out of town, we stopped at our first McDonald’s of the … Read more
August 9 and 10 On Tuesday, we departed our place on Yorkey’s Knob and headed south for a four hour drive to the largest city in northern Queensland, Townsville. On our way out of town, we stopped for some fast food at Hungry Jack’s, which is what Burger King is called “down under.” The menu … Read more
Saturday, August 6 This wasn’t a great beach day so we drove up the coast to the town of Port Douglas. The drive from Cairns is along a very narrow road that winds along the coastal mountains. Like New Zealand, there aren’t a lot of guard rails so it was a bit scary (especially with … Read more
Wednsday, August 3rd We slept in to let our legs recover and soon after started our adventure of the day: a trip to the mountain resort town of Hanmer Springs. It is the largest hot springs area on the South Island. The resort has a number of pools with water of varying temperatures. It was … Read more
Sunday, July 31 Today, we drove to the city of Rotorua. Much of the North Island of New Zealand is an active volcanic zone, and Rotorua, known for its hot springs, is the largest city in that area. While hot springs provide an endless source of hot water, they also emit an odor of sulphur. … Read more
Friday, July 29We slept in a bit on our first morning in New Zealand (Pokeno, NZ on the North Island). We awoke to a windy, cool winter day. After some coffee and fresh kiwi fruit provided by our Airbnb hosts, we left Pokeno and drove about an hour south to the city of Hamilton. The … Read more
Blog post #2 – 7/28/2016 Well, we made it! From first airplane to last airplane, it took about 36 hours (from Norfolk to Auckland). Overall it wasn’t that bad. We tried to sleep as much as we could, but let’s face it: we were not in first class, so we were a little tired and … Read more
7-26-2016 Our journey has begun! We are sitting at the LAX airport waiting for our 15 hour flight! Many have asked why we chose to go to New Zealand and Australia. Really it is a story that began about 5 or 6 years ago. John has always had big travel ideas and he got the … Read more